God's Purpose

INTRO.- Where are you headed? Where are you going?

ILL.- Two friends went hunting for moose in Canada every year. Each time they were flown out to the marshland in a small bush plane.

After landing them at the hunting site, the pilot said, “I’ll pick you up in four days and you can only return with you two, your gear and only one moose.”

Four days later the pilot landed to pick them up and found the men with two moose. He was very angry and said, “I told you only one moose. It’s impossible to fly out of here with the weight of two.”

The men said, “But we were here last year and the pilot took us out with two moose, so we thought maybe you would too.”

The pilot said, “Hey, I’m the best pilot in this country, so if he can do it, I can do it.” So they stuffed everything in the small plane, closed the door, and took off. The pilot pulled the throttle down as far as it would go. They made it up fine until they came to a tree at the end of the runway and suddenly crashed right in the top of it. Moose, gear, and men went flying in all directions.

When one of the hunters came to, he looked around and said, “Herb, where are we?” Herb said, “I don’t know, Bill, but it’s about 150 yards farther than we were last year.”

Brothers and sisters, where are you in life? Are you just a little farther than you were last year?

Often, it seems like we take two steps forward and three steps backwards in life and especially, in the spiritual realm.

Life is tough, to say the least. Life has a tendency to knock us down and beat us up.

ILL.- A preacher friend of mine wrote me the other day and said, “One very sweet lady who has been struggling with MS had to be put in the hospital after it flared up on her. It does that every now and then, and every episode like this she has, puts her one step closer to death as there’s no cure for her disease. It’s really a shame as she’s so sweet and so young. She’s a wonderful example of a young Christian woman should be. She teaches at the elementary school here and all the children think the world of her.

“Then, one of our teenage members tried to commit suicide because she and her boyfriend broke up. This girl is so beautiful, smart and athletic that she could probably have just about any boy she wanted. Why she can’t see her potential, I don’t know. She has been taken to a psychiatric hospital in Shreveport for professional help. Hopefully, they can help her get her life back together.

“We have another lady in the hospital dying of cancer. And another elderly gentleman who used to preach here many years ago wasn’t expected to live through the night.”

This brother preacher wrote back the next day and here is what he said.

“We had another teen try to kill himself yesterday. I was at the hospital till late last night with the family. He overdosed (purposely) on pain pills. I just don’t know what’s in these kids’ minds these days. This makes the 3rd teen that’s attempted suicide this year. One of these days one of them will be successful. He told me he heard the voice of demons calling and he answered the call. I told him he almost got to see them too! And if he did, he’d get to spend eternity with them. I don’t think he listened as he was still feeling the effects of the drug overdose. I don’t think he’d listen anyway. Pray for me that I might have the strength and wisdom to help these people.”

Brothers and sisters, this preacher doesn’t minister in a large church either. He is only dealing with about a hundred and twenty people in a small town in Northeast Texas, population about 200.

Life is tough. We all need direction. And we all need to make some progress in the right direction. Where are you headed? In what direction? Are you making any spiritual progress?

Our text in Prov. 3:5-6 teaches us to seek the Lord and trust Him in all things in life. We humans don’t have all the answers to life’s difficulties and perplexities, BUT THE LORD DOES! We must continually pray, seeking His will for our lives if we want a better life! In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight or direct your life.

Regardless of what our agenda is we need to get in on God’s agenda, get on His team, wave His flag, follow His leading, do His will, seek His purpose in life.